This past weekend was the 2nd of 4 Eastern Cup weekends. We traveled to Rumford, ME, for a freestyle distance race on Saturday followed by a classic sprint on Sunday. The crew was slim due to the conflict with the HS pursuit race, but MNC had an exciting weekend and good racing by each of our athletes. Highlights from the weekend were Bill Harmeyer’s 8th place finish on Sunday (top U18), and all of the MNC athletes qualified to ski in the head-to-head heats on Sunday!

Bill Harmeyer and Forrest Hamilton celebrate their top-12 finishes in the sprint

Saturday started with bitter cold temps and strong winds putting the U16 boys out onto course in brutal conditions. The trails at Black Mountain are really fun, and a nice contrast to the Breadloaf and Trapp’s race courses that were designed by John Morton. Morton loves to pack trails into a small area, resulting in lots of twists and turns. Further, he is known for making lots of “s-turn” downhills which are technically very challenging and become not very fun if the conditions are really hard and fast. Rumford, however, has wide trails and is not a terribly technical venue. The trails are tough due to the hills, which is what I like: bomb the downhills and carry your speed into the big climbs!!! Even the younger athletes can just get down in a tuck and relax and smile when they descend, rather than worry about sliding into a ditch or a tree.

Will Solow was our lone U16 boy this weekend. He looked strong and raced amidst a pack of the best boys in the country. Battling the cold, the winds, and the infamous “High School Hill,” Will skied to a strong 13th place which is his best of the season. Bill Harmeyer was our lone U18 boy and he go to ski the 5km loop twice. He started fast and was reeling in some of the earlier racers, then tired and lost some time in the 2nd lap. Overall a solid distance race for Bill, but he was looking forward more to Sunday’s sprints! Marika Massey-Bierman was also racing for Craftsbury and she skied strong to a 13th place showing.

Saturday were the sprints and the Harmeyer bros – perenially very strong sprinters – were stoked to get after it. Will and Marika haven’t had much experience in sprints, so I think both were feeling a mix of excitement and perhaps some anxiety! Temps were a bit warmer and eventually we had some snow, rain and then freezing rain, but the course was good in spite of very little snow.

The coolest thing about the weekend was seeing all 4 of our MNC athletes qualifying for the heats. Bill and Henry were in the top-30 overall so they advanced to the Open Men’s Heats. Marika Massey-Bierman and Will Solow were in the top 12 U16s so they got to compete in the J2 heats.

Marika had some strong striding up the big hill to advance from her semifinal to the A-final, but didn’t quite have the gas in the finale. She ended up having her first-ever top-1o result at an Eastern Cup!

Will Solow also skied strong in his semifinal during the brief rainstorm. All the boys had really slick skis but Will was able to double-pole the big climb while others did a herring-bone. He came into the homestretch in 4th but with lots of momentum and a strong double-pole. Sadly he was boxed-out and couldn’t pass anyone in the last 100m, so he finished 4th and went on to the B-final. Conditions continued changing and Will decided to do what the World Cuppers do in his B-final: he elected to double-pole the entire 1.4km course on his skate skis!! He was right in the mix early, then tangled with a boy and they lost some time and momentum. He had a hard time recovering and ended up 6th in the heat and 14th overall on the day.

Bill and Henry were unfortunate to be in the same quarterfinal along with the fastest skier of the day (a Canadian U23). While Henry was a bit off the pace, Bill was hanging tough and finished 3rd in the heat — good enough to move to the semifinals as “lucky loser” along with Forrest Hamilton from a later heat. Bill had a tough semifinal and lost contact with the leaders and ended up with Forrest in the Men’s B Final. Bill skied really strong and had a fierce double pole down the homestretch to finish 2nd in the heat meaning 8th overall on the day and top U18!

After that we all had scary drives home in the freezing rain and black ice.

Henry Harmeyer in the qualifier round

Will Solow rounds the fast corner in his U16 semifinal

Bill Harmeyer edges out a Dartmouth skier to advance from quarters to semis